Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha made every second count by breaking the men's half marathon record by just one second on Sunday.
Kejelcha finished strong in the Spanish city of Valencia by clocking a time of 57 minutes, 30 seconds, shaving a single second off the record set in 2021 by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon, Portugal.
Kejelcha is a former world championship 10,000-meter silver medalist and holds the world indoor record for the mile, which he set in Boston in 2019. He finished sixth in the 10,000-meter final at the Paris Olympics earlier this year . according to the BBC.
Eva Manez / REUTERS
Like all athletics records, Kejelcha's will be subject to ratification procedures before it is considered official by World Athletics.
“This race was not easy,” Kejelcha said, according to world athletics. “Today I told myself that I had to do it in 57 minutes and I saw on the clock of the leading car that it was possible, despite the rain. “I wanted to break the world record and I am very happy to have achieved it.”
It was the second time in a row that the record was improved by such a narrow margin. When Kiplimo set his record, the time was one second faster than that set by Kenya's Kibiwott Kandie a year earlier in Valencia.
Eva Manez / REUTERS
For a moment it looked like there might also be a world record in the women's half marathon on Sunday, but Kenya's Agnes Ngetich fell behind by 11 seconds as she chased Letesenbet Gidey's mark of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 52 seconds. Gidey also set his record in Valencia, in 2021.
world athletics said It was the second fastest time in history. It was the first time Ngetich, last year's world championship finalist in the 10,000 meters, ran the half marathon.
“I am very happy and very proud to have achieved the second fastest time on my apertura,” Ngetich said, according to World Athletics. “Valencia will always have a special place in my heart because it is where I set my world record in the 10 km.”